


Barking Up the Wrong Tree

by zubeneschamali



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, First Time, M/M, booooooys in spaaaaace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:35:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zubeneschamali/pseuds/zubeneschamali
Summary: Written for an spn_masquerade prompt. Jared is a botanist who tends to prioritize enthusiasm over caution when it comes to exploring new planets. Jensen is the security officer who tries to keep Jared's ass safe while secretly harboring a crush on him. But Jensen can only take nearly losing his botanist so many times…
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Comments: 24
Kudos: 208





	Barking Up the Wrong Tree

**Author's Note:**

> So ashtray_thief laid out some zuben-bait in this fall's Masquerade, and I gobbled it up. Here's the first of a few such fics...

"Jared, we have to leave soon so we get back to the camp before dark."

Jared waved a hand in Jensen's direction, still concentrating on the tree in front of him. "Just another minute, I promise. I need to get samples of this tree bark."

"The tree will be there tomorrow," Jensen replied. "If we get caught out after dark, we still don't know what hostile fauna there are in our vicinity."

"Danneel said the local fauna are all small and non-poisonous." Jared pulled a penknife out of his pocket and flicked it open. "Just need to pull off a little of this bark…"

"Wait." Jensen's hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Did that bark just—move?"

"The only tree we've ever encountered with prehensile bark was on Riga Six." Jared watched the brown-and-white mottled bark in front of him for a moment anyway, just to appease his security officer.

Jensen got a little high-strung sometimes when Jared was approaching a new lifeform. It was probably because he was paid to be cautious, to watch Jared's back in case a venom-shooting flower got a little too close (it was only that one time, and Jared was about to duck out of the way anyway) or a really tall plant with a deep well between its leaves turned out to be carnivorous (it wouldn't have been able to digest all of him anyway). Jared appreciated that the company was so concerned about his well-being, and it was nice to have someone on hand to help him carry tools and samples. Even if Jensen complained about being used as a pack mule.

At least he was really pretty to look at. Which sometimes created other problems, like Jared trying not to pop a boner in the middle of a botanical expedition. He'd long ago given up hope that Jensen saw him as anything other than a pain-in-the-ass charge that he always seemed to get stuck with when they scouted a new planet.

"Jared, we really need to get going."

"All right, all right." Jared lifted his knife and reached out with a gloved hand (he did know how to take precautions, despite what Jensen thought) to peel away a small strip of bark. "C'mon, that's it," he said as the reddish-brown bark began to peel away. "That's it…"

"Jared!"

That was all the warning he had before strong hands were clamping down on his biceps and bodily hauling him away from the tree. "What the—"

Jared stumbled and barely kept his footing as Jensen spun him around so quickly his knife went flying from his hands. He was about to berate Jensen when he noticed the reason for his concern.

While Jared had been concentrating on the trunk of the tall tree, one of its long, thick branches had been inching towards him from above. It was more like a vine than a branch, as thick around as his wrist, and as he watched in horror, it lashed at Jensen, who was standing between Jared and the tree.

Jensen dodged back and then drew his machete. Jared wished he didn't find that so hot, but he really did. Especially when Jensen did that thing—

Oh yeah. There it was. Jensen lunged out with almost supernatural grace to lop off the limb that was reaching out. It fell to the ground, twitching, and Jensen started backing away, looking warily up at the rest of the tree.

Neither of them was surprised when half a dozen more vine-like limbs suddenly sprang at them. "Run!" Jensen shouted, but Jared was already in motion.

The forest floor was wide open; whatever this species was, it seemed to repel the undergrowth. That could be good for settlement, but not if the trees were hostile to newcomers. As he ran, Jared glanced at the strip of bark he still had clutched in one hand. Hopefully he'd be able to sequence its DNA and get some useful information to figure out how it—

He yelped out loud as something hit him from behind. He stumbled forward, but then he was being lifted off the ground. "Jensen!" he screamed, grabbing at the thick, flexible tree limb that had just wrapped itself around his middle.

"Hang on!"

Jared looked back to see Jensen cocking his arm as if to throw something. Then he realized Jensen was still holding the machete, and he shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Keep still!"

That was hard to do when Jared was being waved through the air like a doll in the hand of a child throwing a tantrum. For a moment, he was afraid he was going to be dashed against the ground, but the limb holding him only seemed to be shaking him, like it was trying to get him to let something go.

Then it hit him. "Wait!" Jared shouted. He held up a hand in Jensen's direction before turning towards where he thought the trunk of the tree was. "Here! You want this?" He held up his other hand and with a flourish, let go of the strip of bark.

Instantly, the limb around his middle let go. Fortunately, he was only a couple of feet off the ground, though by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late to get his hands or feet under him. He crashed to the ground on his side, rolling over onto his back with a faint, "Ow."

"Jared!" Jensen ran towards him and then slid on his knees until he was right beside Jared. It was quite possibly the hottest thing Jared had ever seen. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He slowly sat up. "I think we pissed off the whole forest."

"I'm not the one who went around skinning a sentient tree." Jensen was carefully patting the back of Jared's head, fingers combing through his hair. "Did you hit your head?"

"I'm fine." Jared ducked away before the touch of Jensen's hands could turn him on. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not the one that the tree kidnapped! Jared, you—"

There was a charged silence, and Jared looked up to find Jensen's gaze so intense, it was almost anguished. He looked really worried, not like a security officer who might get in trouble, but a man seriously concerned about a friend.

Jared gave him a small smile. "I'm okay, Jensen. Really. Don't worry about me."

"Hard not to," Jensen muttered, but some of the concern had left his expression. "You okay to walk?"

"I think so."

Together, they got Jared to his feet. The trees around them had gone quiet, only a faint breeze stirring their limbs. Jared was sore up and down his left side, and he knew he'd have bruises tomorrow, but it could have been a lot worse.

They got back to camp just as the sun slipped behind the nearby hills. Their two-room pod didn't inflate quite high enough for Jensen to stand up straight, and Jared always felt like he was bending in half to fit. He was halfway to his room, wrestling his jacket off and stifling a groan, when Jensen burst out, "Holy shit!"

"What?" Jared turned around to see what it was, but Jensen was already moving towards him, hands reaching out to push his shirt up. "Whoa, what?"

"That branch or vine or whatever must have been sharp. You didn't feel it?"

Jared looked down to see thin red lines across his middle, right above his waistline, smeared with blood. The skin around them was slightly puffy. "Huh."

"Sit down." Jensen pointed at the camp stool. "I'm gonna clean those up and then patch them. Wait, should I patch them? What if there was venom or something on those vines?"

"Doesn't look like the cuts need anything more than cleaning." Jared lightly felt at his sides and back.

"Stop touching." Jensen slapped his hand away. "And sit down."

Jared sank onto the camp stool with a sigh. The temperature in the pods was comfortably warm, so he pulled his shirt all the way off to give Jensen more room to work.

When Jensen came back from the other room with the first-aid kit, he paused, eyes going wide. Instantly, Jared asked, "What? What is it? Is something else wrong?" He looked down at himself but only saw the three thin red lines across his midriff.

"No, ah, you, it's okay." Jensen swallowed hard as if steeling himself for something. Then he came forward and knelt between Jared's spread knees. "Just hold still," he muttered.

Jared sat up straight and tried not to look at Jensen's bowed head right in front of his chest. If he moved down just a few inches, he would be—shit, he was going to see it if Jared popped wood right now, and he'd probably throw the first-aid kit at Jared and make him do it himself. Jared shut his eyes and tried to think about unpleasant things, like the time he had actually gotten stung by a venomous plant that had quickly gotten infected, and how they'd barely made it back to the infirmary to get antibiotics before Jared collapsed. That hadn't been fun. Jensen had been livid afterwards, and Jared had been afraid he'd have to break in a new security officer. But the next time Jared went out in the field, Jensen had been with him, just as surly as usual.

Now, Jensen's touch was light but firm, spreading antibiotic cream in a line from Jared's stomach around his side to his back. Jared could feel Jensen's breath on his skin as he worked, and he gritted his teeth. "Can you hurry it up?" he muttered.

"Sure, let me just slap a bandage on when we have no idea if it might have done more than just abraded your skin," Jensen shot back. "I remember carrying you back to base on Deneb Three because you were so delirious with fever you couldn’t walk."

"This was outside my clothing," Jared retorted. "There's no reason to think I even need the cream. Or a bandage."

"That's what you said last year when I pulled that thorn out of your leg. And then two days later, it was oozing green and you were hallucinating about having roots."

"It was just a bit of leftover sap, and I was not hallucinating."

"You don't even remember it right."

"Oh, and you do?"

"I remember every time, damn it." Jensen straightened up on his knees, eyes flashing. "Every time you poke at a plant without checking for defensive mechanisms first. Every time I have to half-carry you back to camp. Every time I sit in the infirmary waiting to make sure that you're okay when no one has any idea what you might have been exposed to."

"Sorry." Jared crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe you should pick an easier scientist to shadow."

"That's not—" Jensen threw his hands up in the air. "It's not about my job, Jared. It's you!"

Jared was about to ask what he meant when he saw that same expression on Jensen's face that he'd noticed earlier. It was almost angry, like he cared so much that it made him frustrated, like—

Like he cared so much.

Jensen's hands had come to rest on the tops of Jared's thighs, and Jared put his own hands over them. He said, "I'm sorry to put you through that. I just—I get so excited, and it's the best job in the world to be the first human to see all these species, and I'm not always as careful as I should be. That's why I'm glad I have you." He tried to convey his gratitude and his care through his gaze, letting Jensen see for a moment what he normally tried to keep to himself.

Jensen's lips parted in surprise, and Jared's gaze flickered down to them. When he looked back, Jensen was somehow closer, hands spreading out on Jared's thighs as he leaned towards him. "You drive me crazy, Jared," he whispered.

"So do you," Jared whispered back as he closed the distance between them.

He'd been thinking about Jensen's mouth for so long that it was a shock to actually feel it lush and soft against his. He tightened his grip on Jensen's hands, letting the warmth of Jensen's kiss flow over him, soothing and comforting and putting to rest the nerves and tension he'd been feeling around his security officer for so long.

Then Jensen's tongue teased at his lips, and another kind of tension started to build. Jared parted his lips, and as Jensen slid inside, he couldn't help the moan that escaped his throat.

Immediately, Jensen drew back, eyes wide and pupils dark. "Get on the bed, Jared."

"Are you sure? I mean, we haven't talked about this, and you didn't finish—"

"You're going to do what I say for once." Jensen pointed at the head of the inflatable mattress. "Now lie down."

The thrill of arousal that shot through Jared was entirely unexpected. He'd never been into his partner ordering him around, but this was Jensen. He nodded quickly, and the smile he got in response from Jensen was nothing short of predatory.

It turned out Jensen was just as efficient at stripping off clothing as he was at almost everything else he did. Jared didn't really remember much after that point, too caught up in the feeling of so much skin against his and the way Jensen practically purred once he was finally inside Jared. He was really glad it was just the two of them out in the woods, given how loud he was when he came, and he was also glad it was chilly out so he could pull Jensen's body against his for warmth once they were done.

"Should have known you'd be a cuddler," Jensen grumbled as he settled his head against Jared's shoulder.

Jared smiled into the top of his head. "Just think, this way you'll know if any murderous vines come slithering into the tent in the middle of the night."

Jensen raised his head, the shadow of remembered fear from a few months ago on another planet clouding his eyes. "If I hadn't heard the noises and come in, that thing would have strangled you."

"But you were there to save me." Jared gave him a peck, thrilled beyond belief that he finally could. Then something occurred to him. "Huh. I think that's where my machete kink came from."

Jensen's eyebrows shot up. "Your what now?"

Jared gently pushed Jensen's head back down. "Never mind."

"Don't think I won't remember that for later," Jensen muttered into his chest.

Jared's hand caressed Jensen's bare back. "Guess I'll have to distract you."

"I'm a highly trained security officer. It would be very hard to—" Jensen broke off as Jared's fingers rounded the curve of his ass and started slipping lower. "Oh."

Jared grinned. He'd have to figure out in the morning if there was a way to thank the trees.


End file.
